# 2nd hand books for £0.01 through Amazon

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 5, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538 "2011-03-05T00:29:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538/1 "2011-03-05T00:29:06Z")

</div>

What’s the deal with the book stores selling 2nd hand books for £0.01 through Amazon? How can they possible make any money that way? Both Amazon and the other book stores.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538/2 "2011-03-05T00:31:08Z")

</div>

Shipping reimbursement. If it’s more than the amount it actually costs to ship (especially if they’re getting some kind of bulk mail discount), then they make money.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538/3 "2011-03-05T00:32:56Z")

</div>

They make their money on the postage charge. I don’t know about the UK, but in the US, postage on all Amazon Marketplace orders is $4.00. It doesn’t cost that much to send.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538/4 "2011-03-05T08:40:48Z")

</div>

Probably much the same as this thread from last fall:  
[How Can Amazon Vendors Sell Books for Only 1 Cent?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283097&highlight=books+cent)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2nd-hand-books-for-0-01-through-amazon/573538/5 "2011-03-05T15:31:53Z")

</div>

Ebay too. I saw a lot of 5 two gig USB sticks for 1 cent with a $60 shipping charge. Sheeese! You can catch 4 gig ones on sell for $10 each.